May 20, 2013 - UNITED STATES - At least two people were killed and 29 were injured in Oklahoma as a severe storm system generated several tornadoes Sunday in Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, leveling neighborhoods and sending frightened residents scurrying for shelter as extreme conditions are expected to linger across the Midwest. Another tornado touched down near Oklahoma City Monday afternoon. The tornadoes, high winds and hail have been part of a massive, northeastward-moving storm system that has stretched from Texas to Minnesota. Victims and emergency responders might not get much of a reprieve, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center was forecasting similar weather for Monday over much of the same area. The National Weather Service was warning of the possibility of more tornadoes and baseball-sized hail Monday, while residents of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri were also warned to watch for bad weather Monday.

Terrifying: Those living in mobile homes were warned to take shelter in sturdier buildings.

Wild: The tornado was ripping across the plains of Kansas.

Monster: Two tornadoes hit Kansas on Sunday as severe weather warnings were issued across the Plain states.

At least four separate twisters touched down in central Oklahoma late Sunday afternoon, including one near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that laid waste to much of a mobile home park. Oklahoma state medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliott on Monday identified the two people who are confirmed to have been killed as 79-year-old Glen Irish and 76-year-old Billy Hutchinson. Both men were from Shawnee. Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said Irish was found dead out in the open at Steelman Estates, but the sheriff didn't have details on where he had lived. "You can see where there's absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up," Booth said. "It looks like there's been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour ... It's pretty bad. It's pretty much wiped out." The Shawnee tornado was one of several that touched down in the nation's midsection Sunday. Twisters, hail and high winds also struck Iowa and Kansas as part of a devastating, northeastward-moving storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota. Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma were ravaged by 50 tornadoes this weekend.

Reunited: Christian hugs Wilkinson after they find Bella among the wreckage of Wilkinson's home shortly after a tornado struck on Sunday.

Destruction: Marlena Hodson walks out of her home as her grandsons, Campbell Miller, 10, and Dillon Miller, 13, at right, help her sort through belongings after a tornado damaged her home in Carney, Oklahoma.

Recovery: Nancy and Jason Townsend sort through belongings after their home was hit by a tornado in Carney, Oklahoma.

Nothing left: Leah Hill, pictured left, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, is hugged by friend Sidney Sizemore, as they look through Hill's scattered belongings from her home which was wrecked by a tornado.

Response: At least 21 people were injured across Oklahoma as the storm tore through the region on Sunday.

A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado "scoured" the landscape in the park and an area along Interstate 40. Officials said drivers should expect delays along the highway in Shawnee as crews continue to clean up storm debris. Westbound Interstate 40 was closed Sunday night at U.S. 177 after storms ripped through the area. U.S. 177 was also shut down because of vehicle accidents caused by the severe weather. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation said northbound U.S. 177 at I-40 was reopened as of 7 a.m. Monday. Westbound traffic on I-40 is narrowed to one lane, but all lanes are expected to reopen later Monday morning. Across the state, 21 people were injured, not including those who suffered bumps and bruises and chose not to visit a hospital, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Gov. Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties because of the severe storms and flooding. The declaration lets local governments acquire goods quickly to respond to their residents' needs and puts the state in line for federal help if it becomes necessary. In Enid, Okla. on Saturday, a police officer was injured in high winds when his cruiser was struck by an object. Area emergency manager Mike Honigsberg told The Oklahoman that the car may have been hit by a cattle trough lifted by the wind. In Oklahoma City, an officer was trapped for a time when surrounded by fallen utility lines.

Loss: Jerry Dirks, at right, hugs her friend Earlene Langley after a tornado hit Dirks' home just south of Carney Oklahoma.

Damage: Vehicles are seen amongst storm debris, which is what is left of a mobile home park destroyed by a tornado, west of Shawnee.

Solitary: A flag flies in the debris of a mobile home after a tornado struck a mobile home park near Dale.

Rallying around: Residents help repair the roof of their neighbour's house which was damaged by a fallen tree in Shawnee.

Fierce: A destroyed truck was blown off the 40 freeway after a tornado swept through Shawnee, in Oklahoma.

Another tornado grazed the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond Sunday afternoon, dropping hail as large as a grapefruit and damaging roofs and structures before heading east. Aerial flyovers in Wellston, northeast of Oklahoma City, showed significant property damage. "I knew it was coming," said Edmond resident Randy Grau, who huddled with his wife and two young boys in their Edmond home's safe room when the tornado hit. He said he peered out his window as the weather worsened and believed he saw a flock of birds heading down the street. "Then I realized it was swirling debris," Grau said. "That's when we shut the door of the safe room. I probably had them in there for 10 minutes." Dozen of counties in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri were placed under tornado watches and warnings that were in effect through late Sunday. In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near Mid-Content Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 p.m., knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city.

WATCH: Tornadoes sweeping through U.S. farmland.

The Wichita tornado was an EF1 -- the strength of tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale -- with winds of 110 mph, according to the weather service. Carl Brewer, the mayor of Wichita, told Fox News that the city was hit harder by high winds and golf ball-sized hail than anything from the tornado. "That alone, and the rain, actually just really did a number on the city," he said. "It was so bad you think a tornado came through." Brewer said hail ripped through the sides of houses in Wichita, in addition to breaking windows and damaging cars. But Randy Duncan, Wichita's emergency management director, told Fox News that he has not yet heard of any local reports of injuries or deaths stemming from the storm. Jim Raulston, of Wichita, said the ferocious winds slammed the hailstones into his home. "It was just unbelievable how the hail and everything was just coming straight sideways," Raulston said. The National Weather Service also reported two tornadoes touched down in Iowa — near Huxley and Earlham. Damage included the loss of some cattle when the storm blew over a barn on a farm in Mitchell County. Some 11,000 homes were without power early Monday. - FOX News.

'Major Damage' As Huge Tornado Rips Through Neighborhoods South Of Oklahoma City.A monster tornado ripped through southern Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore on Monday afternoon, leaving homes and schools in ruins and fires burning out of control. A forecaster for NBC station KFOR said the tornado was kicking up a debris cloud about 2 miles wide as it tracked east into residential neighborhoods in the Moore area. Oklahoma City police told NBC News southern portions of the city as well as the Moore suburb sustained "major damage... a lot of damage." Live aerial video showed cars flipped over and crushed, several homes blown out and in splinters and rescue crews as well as residents scouring through wreckage.

WATCH: Raw video contains aerial shots of a neighborhood and school near Moore, Oklahoma after a tornado touched down. Footage from affiliate KFOR.

Two elementary schools were heavily damaged, possibly completely destroyed, KFOR reported. Those schools are Briarwood Elementary in Oklahoma City and Plaza Towers Elementary in Moore, Okla. Tens of millions of people in the Midwest are on edge as forecasters warn severe conditions could continue for the next couple days. NBC News' Jay Gray reports. It appeared, however, as if the twister was dissipating and would miss the downtown area, The Weather Channel reported.

Parts of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area remained under a tornado warning. Video from a KFOR helicopter showed what appeared to be a clearly defined tornado touching down outside the city. Tens of millions of people from Texas to the Great Lakes were warned to brace for severe weather one day after a tornado outbreak killed two elderly men in Oklahoma and turned a trailer park into splinters. The gravest threat appeared to be in Oklahoma and parts of Missouri, but forecasters warned that strong storms, damaging wind and pounding hail were possible as far north as Minnesota and Wisconsin. In all, an area covering 55 million people was under risk of severe weather, the National Weather Service said.

WATCH: Tens of millions of people in the Midwest are on edge as forecasters warn severe conditions could continue for the next couple days. NBC News' Jay Gray reports.

On Sunday, twisters killed two men in Shawnee, Okla., ages 79 and 76, and injured 21 others. The state medical examiner confirmed the second death Monday morning. The storms also destroyed mobile homes, flipped trucks and sent people across 100 miles running for cover. In Kansas, a weather forecaster was forced off the air as a tornado bore down on his station. “You can see where there’s absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up,” Mike Booth, the sheriff of Pottawatomie County, Okla., told The Associated Press. “It looks like there’s been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.”

A National Weather Service advisory warned: 'You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter.' 'Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals.' At least four separate tornadoes touched down in central Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon, including one near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that laid waste to much of a trailer park. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 16 counties. In Edmond, Randy Grau said he looked out a window and saw what he thought was a flock of birds heading down the street. “Then I realized it was swirling debris,” he told The Weather Channel. “That’s when we shut the door of the safe room.” In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near the airport. Two tornadoes touched down Sunday night outside Des Moines, Iowa. The storm system is making a slow march east. Severe storms will threaten the same part of the country Tuesday and parts of the Northeast on Wednesday, the weather service said. - NBC News.

Severe Storm Outbreak Continues.Severe storms may erupt from Oklahoma to Minnesota on Monday as the storm system that spawned several tornadoes across the Plains on Saturday and Sunday shifts slowly to the east. Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Cedar Rapids and Minneapolis are among the cities at risk for severe weather. Damaging winds greater than 60 mph, large hail and tornadoes are possible with the strongest thunderstorms that develop.

The greatest risk for tornadoes is expected from north of Dallas, Texas, and Oklahoma to central Missouri, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Edwards. The most violent storms will ignite during the afternoon and evening hours as daytime heating causes instability. Plenty of humid air will be in place to fuel the severe storms. Keep checking back with AccuWeather.com for the latest information on the severe storm outbreak. - AccuWeather.

Herb Lady

Posts : 5183Join date : 2012-01-01

So true terbo and nannee!

Maybe this is wrong, but I decided to put good vibes back into the air - after the storms here, I cranked up the radio and danced -danced for those who have passed as their troubles are over, for those who survived as they need all the positivity they can get, for the rebuilding and starting over as all new beginnings go better with good vibs and positivity, for good things to come for them.My troubles are nothing compared to theirs - so I payed forward with putting good vibes in the air. May they get many more good vibes to come!